


Just Leave Grass on His Doorstep

by kowaidesuka



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chrobin Week 2019, Gaius is a prick, Language of Flowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 12:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19830457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kowaidesuka/pseuds/kowaidesuka
Summary: Chrom gets schooled in the language of flowers. An exasperated Sumia and amused Gaius try and help him win Robin's heart.





	Just Leave Grass on His Doorstep

**Author's Note:**

> I ended up being swamped with work so sadly didn't end up writing for all the prompts :') But hopefully some people might like this one for Day 2: Flowers.
> 
> I haven't stepped foot in an actual flower shop for ages so uh professional florists don't @ me

“What do you think of this one?” Chrom asked, gesturing to the delicate yellow rosebud he clumsily twirled in his hand.

“Ooh, yeah, roses are great! I don’t like doing flower fortunes with them much, though. It’s kind of sad to see them all bare when you pluck them,” Sumia said, delicately picking up a rose from the bunch. “Although I guess it makes sense to pluck some of them. You know, for those romantic trails of rose petals people like to do. Maybe I should start offering to sell them pre-plucked? Oh, wait, they’d wilt…” She pondered the decision for a moment, then perked up. “Oh, sorry, Chrom! I was totally preoccupied.” She turned back to her friend, gently shimmying the flower back in the bunch it came from. “So who’s that gonna be for? Lissa? Your mum?”

“Er, actually,” the blue-haired youth corrected, “I was kind of… planning on giving it to Robin?” He chuckled nervously. 

“Robin? You mean that guy in your Calc class? The one you found napping on the football field? That Robin?”

“Yep,” Gaius drawled, popping out from the back room. Customers were often surprised that someone like Gaius was working for the flower shop; little did they know the auburn-haired freshman applied to get discount deals for the candy store next door, a close associate of the shop and a brother-in-arms during the hectic Valentine’s Day period. “The one and the same Robin that Blue here’s been gushing about for the past few weeks.” Chrom flushed in response to his friend’s heckling.

“Oh my god!” she squealed. This was huge. Once upon a time, Sumia may have had a teensy crush on the boy, but he had always seemed obtuse when it came to love and romance. Then she frowned, fully realising Chrom's plan. “So you’re going to give him _yellow_ roses… to ask him out?”

“Yeah. I mean, roses are romantic, right? And yellow’s his favourite colour. Well, when I asked him, he said he never really thought about a favourite colour of his, but he definitely likes yellow,” Chrom rambled, lips turned up in a soft smile. “Hence, yellow roses! What do you think?”

“Oh, Chrom, no… no no no.” Sumia shook her head frantically. Gaius rolled his eyes in the background. “Here we go again,” he sighed.

“What? Is there something wrong?” Chrom looked between the two, confused. He set the flower down on the counter. 

“You just don’t get yellow roses for someone you love,” she said sternly. Blushing even harder, Chrom sputtered, “Wha- who said anything about love?! I just met him a month ago!” 

“Regardless,” Sumia continued dramatically, “flowers have meanings associated with them. It’s like a whole other language. Why do you think I have so many of them in stock?”

“So… yellow is bad?”

“Yellow roses signify friendship and only that. It’s usually something you’d give to family.”

“Stumbles, you don’t have to give that big speech to every guy that walks in to buy yellow roses, buttercups, or petunias,” Gaius interjected. “What if Blue’s dude just likes any ol’ yellow flower?”

“Wait, buttercups are bad too?” Chrom furrowed his brow. That had been his second choice if there were no yellow roses in stock.

“But do you really want to risk it, Chrom?” she said in a more serious tone than her usual chirpy self. “Robin’s probably a smart guy. He could already know these things. Or he could totally look it up if he were curious enough.”

“...I guess you have a point,” he eventually said, nodding. “So uh… which ones _can_ I pick then?”

“I’m glad you asked!” Sumia dashed into the back room, nearly tripping over a pot of daffodils, and returned shortly with a binder filled with assorted papers. “Here’s a collection of flowers and their meanings I’ve been compiling since I opened the shop with my aunt. I’ve added post-it notes for when other people talked to me about flower meanings. Feel free to leaf through it and pick out what you think would be good!” She handed the book over and left the shop, starting her afternoon watering routine for the flowers outside.

Chrom opened up the binder, flipping the pages and scanning through his friend’s scribblings. “Is there any particular order to this? It doesn’t seem to be in alphabetical order.”

“Hmm?” Gaius looked up from his perusal of next door’s catalogue of new sweets. “Ah, no. Pretty sure Stumbles did it in whatever order. I pretty much know the whole thing front to back though.” He put down the catalogue and went to stand over the binder, next to Chrom. “This one’s good, a Forget-me-not. Its meaning is fairly obvious, but it’s one that fits a lot of situations, so it wouldn’t be too weird to give to Bubbles.”

“Bubbles?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, as in you’d like to _blow_ Bubbles,” he replied, smirking.

“Gaius, NO.” The violent flush in his cheeks came back again. 

“Gaius, yes.”

“Just… never call him that again. Please.” 

“No promises,” Gaius said, snickering, and flicked through the pages again. “Okay, also this one. White violets; basically telling him to take a chance at a relationship with you. White Camellias too, to tell him he’s cute. And if you still want yellow, go with daffodils. It has a lot of meanings, but some think they mean ‘The sun is bright when I am with you’.” That particular meaning definitely resonated with Chrom. 

“These are all… really sweet, Gaius, thanks,” Chrom said, smiling gratefully. “And, not gonna lie, a little unexpected coming from you.”

“No problem, man. When Stumbles gets back, she can help you out with the arrangement. Hey, while we’re waiting, we can flick through some of my contributions.” 

“You’ve written stuff down for this?” Chrom asked, surprised. 

“I get bored during slow days here. And I like to look up weird stuff, like herbs and poisons and shit like that. As if we’d ever sell monkshood,” he said with a snort. “Anyway, the entries I did for grass are my personal favourite. And hey, maybe you can add it to your bouquet.”

“Even grass has a meaning?” Chrom leaned in closer to read Gaius’ scribblings, then looked at him, exasperated. “Gaius, _no_ ,” he repeated, slamming the book shut.

**Author's Note:**

> I've gotten most of my definitions from this link here: http://thelanguageofflowers.com/
> 
> but there were a few that this site didn't cover, so for those interested, buttercups can symbolise childishness, and grass overall can mean 'submission', but certain types of grass can mean 'homosexual love' lmao
> 
> Also I totally took the yellow rose thing from that one Hillary Duff movie I forgot the name of


End file.
